Taking a snapshot of major stores across the UK, the following firms reported increases in online sales compared to 2006:
| Sainsburys | Online internet sales increased by 40% for the period October - December 2007. The number of orders during this period (90,000) was 50% higher than for the same period in 2006. Overall sales growth was 3.7%. |
Source: IMRG | |||
| Debenhams | For the period 8/12/07 to 5/1/08, the store reported a massive 85% increase in online sales compared to 2006. Overall sales growth was 4.4%. |
Source: IMRG | |||
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Tesco
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Reported a 24% increase in sales. Sales via Tesco.com and Tesco Direct hit £190m for the period 24/11/07 to 5/1/08. Technology goods - in particular digital cameras, laptops and MP3 players were in high demand. Total sales growth was 3.1%. |
Source: IMRG | |||
| Argos | Argos reported a 33% increase in online sales for the period 1/9/07 to 5/1/08. The figure represents 25% of all sales through its stores. |
Source: BBC | |||
| M &S | Between October and December 2007, Marks and Spencer saw a 78% increase in online sales compared to 2006. Like for like sales were down 2.2%. |
Source: BBC |
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| Amazon | Claimed record revenues - 62.5 items were ordered per second, worldwide. |
Source: |
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| John Lewis | On 10/12/07 the store saw the largest ever sales - £2.8 million in 1 day. |
Source: |
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| Waterstones | The bookstore owned by HMV reported a 100% increase in online sales. | Source: Catalogue-ebusiness |
By contrast, DSG International (DSGi) - parent company of Dixons.co.uk, Currys and PC World gave out a warning that profits could be up to £50 million lower than earlier predictions (Source: Catalogue-ebusiness).
Although these companies reported healthy online sales figures, overall, consumers were tightening their belts and were more discerning. Sales peaked during the first week of December, a week later than 2006 - suggesting that we were holding out for seasonal reductions and promotions.
Busiest Day in 2007
The busiest day for online shopping for the entire year, was Boxing Day - as consumers took advantage of sales and bargains. The figures (as reported by Hitwise UK) showed that Boxing Day proved more popular than early December (traditionally a stronger period). The second busiest day was 2 December (in 2005, the busiest day was 4 December).
"Historically, online retailers have focused on the pre-Christmas shopping period. However, this year, bargain-hungry British shoppers have voted with their wallets, and more people than ever are shunning cold turkey on Boxing Day in favour of online shopping." Robin Goad, Director of Research at Hitwise.
So which site won overall? Hitwise reports that consumers searching using the keywords "sale" or "sales" hit Play.com more than any other website. Play.com got the biggest chunk of website traffic in December with 27% market share (followed by Tesco Direct 7% and Littlewoods with 5.4%).
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